Sleep diplomacy alone will widen sleep disparities
Authors: Timothy Daly
Journal: The Lancet Healthy Longevity (2023)

In their Comment, Diego A Golombek and colleagues are right to underscore the importance of sleep for brain health.1Golombek DA Booi L Campbell D et al.Sleep diplomacy: an approach to boosting global brain health.Lancet Healthy Longev. 2023; 4: e368-e370Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Google Scholar Their sleep diplomacy initiative “aims to emphasise the need for adequate rest…and to provide practical advice”.1Golombek DA Booi L Campbell D et al.Sleep diplomacy: an approach to boosting global brain health.Lancet Healthy Longev. 2023; 4: e368-e370Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Google Scholar However, while they also recognise the “striking difference”1Golombek DA Booi L Campbell D et al.Sleep diplomacy: an approach to boosting global brain health.Lancet Healthy Longev. 2023; 4: e368-e370Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Google Scholar in sleep across socioeconomic gradients, this sleep disparity,2Patel NP Grandner MA Xie D Branas CC Gooneratne N “Sleep disparity” in the population: poor sleep quality is strongly associated with poverty and ethnicity.BMC Public Health. 2010; 10: 475Crossref PubMed Scopus (251) Google Scholar identified by Patel and colleagues as being “strongly associated with poverty and race”,2Patel NP Grandner MA Xie D Branas CC Gooneratne N “Sleep disparity” in the population: poor sleep quality is strongly associated with poverty and ethnicity.BMC Public Health. 2010; 10: 475Crossref PubMed Scopus (251) Google Scholar does not inform their diplomacy approach, apart from the Golombek and colleague's recommendation to “share results on…socioeconomic status”.1Golombek DA Booi L Campbell D et al.Sleep diplomacy: an approach to boosting global brain health.Lancet Healthy Longev. 2023; 4: e368-e370Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Google Scholar These pre-existing sleep disparities mean that, as Walsh and colleagues argue, approaches based on lifestyle advice alone “will widen health inequalities”3Walsh S Govia I Wallace L et al.A whole-population approach is required for dementia risk reduction.Lancet Healthy Longev. 2022; 3: e6-e8Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Google Scholar because not everyone has the resources required to implement such advice long term. I argue that a more adequate approach to improve sleep should include action against the inequalities that lead to sleep disparities. Meanwhile, lifestyle recommendations for sleep diplomacy should respect the principle of “no ought without support”;4Daly T Dementia prevention guidelines should explicitly mention deprivation.AJOB Neurosci. 2023; 2023: 1-4Crossref Scopus (1) Google Scholar ie, all recommendations should be accompanied by resources and actions, making them feasible throughout the general population, particularly for those in need of more support. I report grants from FLACSO Argentina. Sleep diplomacy: an approach to boosting global brain healthSleep diplomacy highlights the urgent need to address the widespread issue of sleep deprivation and its detrimental effects on overall health, particularly brain health and healthy ageing. By providing practical advice on sleep hygiene, healthy schedules, and light exposure, sleep diplomacy aims to promote a comprehensive approach to well-being. Despite the well-established importance of sleep for optimal cognitive function, emotional regulation, and physical abilities, it is often neglected in public and medical recommendations. Full-Text PDF Open Access